National transit strike to cause major traffic headache Tuesday

A nationwide public transit strike will cause major traffic problems on Tuesday, Dutch travelers' association ANWB warns. The strike is expected to bring almost all public transit across the Netherlands to a halt.

The roads will be extremely busy during morning and evening rush hour due to the trike, ANWB warns. The weather services also expect rain on Tuesday, which will exacerbate the problem. The ANWB calls on road users to work from home if at all possible on Tuesday. And if you have to drive to work, see if you can carpool - this can provide opportunities for a ride for people dependent public transit to get to work, and reduce the number of cars on the road. A number of carpool hashtags are already trending on social media.

On Sunday a court ruled that the trade unions must allow trains to run between Schiphol and Amsterdam during the strike. Four trains per hour will run between Schiphol and Amsterdam Central Station between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, also stopping at the Lelylaan and Sloterdijk stations. NS warns that this service is not nearly sufficient to accommodate the usual passenger numbers around Schiphol.

The airport called on travelers not to come to the airport on Tuesday unless absolutely necessary. KLM warned that the strike may cause flight delays and cancelations, and offered its passengers flying on Tuesday the option to rebook their flight for another day. 

The public transit workers are striking for a better pension system. The trade unions want to freeze the retirement age at 66, and make it possible for people with taxing jobs to retire earlier. Other sectors will also be striking for this on Wednesday. The public transit sector initially planned to join this strike, but as this would mean that many striking workers from other sectors would be unable to reach labor actions due to public transit not running, the sector decided to hold its strike a day earlier.